


The Trouble With Soulmates

by ExhumingR



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Enjolras hates it more, Grantaire hates the soulmate system, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 09:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12885084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExhumingR/pseuds/ExhumingR
Summary: Having a soulmate isn't all it's cracked up to be, in Grantaire's opinion, especially when they have an even worse opinion of the soulmate system than you do.





	The Trouble With Soulmates

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the idea that your the name of your soulmate is written on your skin and will finally turn gold when your soulmate touches you.

**Chapter One:** So you've got a soulmate...

The worst thing about the soulmate system? Knowing that you have one. Seven billion people spread out across the planet and you’ve got to find the one who is your perfect match. _Crazy_ , isn’t it? The agony, the sheer desperation, of having someone whom is built up to be the most important factor in your life and most of us die without getting anywhere near close to them. Seems fucked up that you’re left knowing that this one perfect person is out there and you might not get to be with them. A lot of people struggle with this knowledge. Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly a surplus of agencies willing to do the dirty work required to find a soulmate, but it’s an incredibly long and expensive process with the high possibility of no result. Most people leave it to fate, figuring that any soulmate worth the title will find their way to them through the magic of the universe.

Destiny.

It’s a word you learn young when you’ve got your perfect match etched into your skin from the moment of birth. You find that some choices are made for you. Each individual gets three years at the age of eighteen to find their soulmate, fully funded, just take off and get exploring. The government encourages individuals to find their soulmate, it’s the done thing, a tradition, but also it’s cost effective. Happy Matched couples are generally better workers, something heightens your abilities when you find your soulmate. It’s a tough search but you find ways. You get a Greek name, you go to Greece, you learn the language, you wise up on the culture, eat the food, shout random Greek as you go about your day to see if you catch anyone’s attention. Anything to turn that name on your skin gold.

One of the most popular ways of passively searching for your soulmate is to have your name written almost all over your clothes, the bolder the better. It’s somewhat efficient, there are plenty of stories about soulmates meeting because they spotted their soulmate’s name(s) written on their t-shirt. Names are littered everywhere, in people’s social media bios soulmates names are written, in newspaper ads, billboards, milk cartons -everywhere. Of course you hear tragic stories about dying individuals in emergency rooms finding that their nurse is their soulmate just as they’re about to meet fate.

Most people don’t bother with anyone but their soulmate, at least while they’re young and optimistic. Everyone wants the perfect love of a soulmate. That’s not to say that people don’t explore relationships outside of soulmate union. The older you get the harder it is to keep looking and people get tired of living without a companion. But it’s a risk, there’s always a chance that one will meet their soulmate and leave their partner behind in the dust. And there’s the problem of religion, the church won’t marry anyone except soulmates so a religious individual would have to accept that they will either have to go against their faith or resign themselves to eternal independence. Society doesn’t necessarily oppose non-soulmate unions but for some reason voluntary love is seen as inferior to the predetermined soulmate connection. Go figure.

One final thing to add to the reason why the soulmate system is terrible argument: when you’ve spent your whole life waiting for your soulmate you find that you have absolutely no idea how relationships work and navigating one is absolute hell for the nerves.

***

Grantaire wasn’t opposed to soulmates exactly, he’d met plenty of happily matched soulmates and it was hard to deny that they were meant to be. It was more that he wasn’t sure he wanted one for himself. Having a soulmate seemed like hard work, a constant companion was sure to get tired of him and goodness knows he knew his own flaws. What person would want a soulmate like him? He drank, swore, fought and hadn’t even the forgiveness of a pleasant face. In fact, though he considered himself to be a great friend to many, as a romantic partner he would be a nightmare. Friends, he had an abundance of, after all, who knew how how to entertain like Grantaire. He had once been described as the epitome of the hedonistic lifestyle, forever indulging in merriment to the point of gluttony. But what to do when you were as jaded as he? No one would ever fall for his face, nor find any comfort in his cynicism. But dance and alcohol and a smart tongue could charm anyone into companionship for a small time. Grantaire prided himself on his ability to expound on the delights in life: art, alcohol and dance. Who needed love and soulmates when they had knowledge of all the secret pleasures in Paris? Not he. People needed men like Grantaire to remind them of their fortune, to show them the ugly pleasure of bitterness.

If he was completely honest with himself, he was rather taken with the soulmate system. The idea that there was someone out there amongst seven billion people who would love you throughout everything was something he secretly valued highly. Quite frankly he’d take what he could get when it comes to love. Not to say that he didn’t have standards, there were a great many things he wanted in his soulmate but he knew he wasn’t a catch and knew he’d love his soulmate incomparably. He was quite in love with the whole idea of love, having only experienced it from afar. The problem for him was that he couldn’t quite marry the idea of the soulmate system with a living, breathing person loving him. It was because of this that he rejected the idea entirely when it came down to himself, disbelieving that any force in the natural world could compel someone to fall in love with him. Every now and then he would look at the name over his heart and ponder what they would be like until it became too much and he looked at it less and less over time. Through the years when the subject of soulmates arose he would laugh and smile and joke about the unfairness of it all that they should have only one soulmate when he was all but guaranteed failure at trying to find someone who was not his soulmate. Most people his age had resigned themselves to the thought of not finding their soulmate or had found them and settled down. Thirty five was when you made decisions about whether you would pursue your soulmate any further or give up and find someone else. It was difficult but necessary. Grantaire himself had never made much of an effort and so found it easy enough to retire into eternal bachelorhood.

Of course it was at that point that everything went entirely tits up for him when quite accidentally he stumbled upon his soulmate.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
